1. A quick and easy sweet biscuit
2. Berries of your choice with a little sugar
3. Sweetened and whipped cream.

I used strawberries and raspberries here. I would have used blackberries as well, for the extra bit of contrasting tartness and color, but the grocery store was out.




Since fruit desserts tend to get better if they sit at least 12 hours, I think it's a good idea to macerate the berries with sugar the day before. This allow flavors to meld and intensify, and if needed, you can add a little more sugar to taste the next day before you assemble the dessert and eat it.




I like to whip the cream until just the soft peak stage...




...so that it droops and drips very nicely around the berries and shortcake.




A yummy, crumbly shortcake adds just enough sweetness to complement the berries without competing with them.




Here is the recipe...

Berries

2 pints strawberries (hulled and sliced)
1 pint raspberries
1 pint blackberries
1/4 to 1/2 cup granulated sugar (or more, if needed)

Shortcake

2/3 cup (1 1/4 stick) ice-cold unsalted butter, cut into cubes
3 1/2 cup all-purpose flour
1/3 cup granulated sugar
2 tablespoons baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
2 large eggs

1/2 cup heavy whipping cream (plus extra for brushing)
1/2 cup buttermilk
turbinado sugar for dusting

Whipped Cream

2 cups heavy whipping cream
1/4 to 1/2 cup powdered sugar
1/4 to 1/2 teaspoon vanilla


Make the berry topping:

1. Combine the strawberries and sugar and toss gently. Let the berries sit for about 30 minutes until they release some of their juice and very gently stir in the other berries (be extra careful with the raspberries, which tend to fall apart easily). As I mention above, it's a good idea to prepare the berries one day in advance, since the flavor improves with age. Of course you can use whatever combination of berries you prefer (including blueberries). After the berry mixture has sat for at least 12 hours, you can adjust the sweetness by adding more sugar if needed. How much will depend on how sweet you like it, and how sweet and flavorful the berries were to begin with. 

Make the shortcake:

Pre-heat the oven to 350 degrees F.

1. Place a piece of parchment paper on top of two cookie sheets (or butter and flour each sheet)

2. Sift together the flour, 1/3 cup of sugar, baking powder, and salt. Add the 2/3 cup of butter. Using an electric mixer set at medium speed, mix together until the mixture is crumbly (up to 3 minutes). Add the eggs, one at a time, beating well after each addition. Gradually add the 1/2 cup of cream and 1/2 cup of butter milk, beating on low speed until the liquid is incorporated and the mixture is soft and thick (and not too wet).

3. Use a 4-oz ice-cream scoop to form each shortcake. Pack the mixture so that it is even with the top of the scoop and release onto the prepared cookie sheet. Each shortcake should be about 2 inches apart on the cookie sheet. Brush the heavy whipping cream onto the tops of the shortcakes and sprinkle with the turbinado sugar.

4. Bake the shortcakes until a light golden brown on top, about 20 to 25 minutes. Remove the shortcakes from the oven and allow to cool on the cookie sheets set on wire racks for 5 minutes. Transfer the shortcakes to the wire racks and allow to cool completely before assembling the berry shortcake desserts.


Make the sweetened whipping cream:

1. Place the 2 cups of heavy whipping cream in a chilled bowl and beat with an electric beater, starting on the low setting and gradually increasing the speed.

2. When the cream starts to thicken, gradually add the powdered sugar until the cream is sweet enough for your liking. Add the vanilla, Beat until the mixture just reaches the soft peak stage. Chill the whipped cream until you are ready to assemble the berry shortcakes.


Assemble:

1. Cut the shortcakes in half.

2. Placing the bottom half in a bowl, top with the berry mixture and a dollop of whipped cream

3, Place the top half of the shortcake on the berry/cream mixture, top with another scoop of berries and another spoonful of whipped cream


The shortcakes can be stored at room temperature for a couple days in a plastic storage bag. The berry mixture and whipped cream should be stored in an airtight container in the refrigerator.

We'll see...

Here are some highlights and a few milestones from our last trip back to the cabin.

I'm pretty ecstatic with the way the window and door casings turned out. I wanted the cabin to have a strong rustic flair without being overwhelmed with too much unpainted and dark wood. Painting the tongue-and-groove plank walls white helped to balance things out and really showcase the nice and beefy stained window and door casings, the salvaged-wood look ceiling, and the floors (granted the floors are filthy in these photos, so you can't see what they look like...but some day they will be clean and pretty again).





I love the way the ceiling turned out. Since we wanted the look of salvaged wood up there without the outrageous expense, we bought new, 4-inch tongue-and-groove pine planks and aged them using steel wool, vinegar, and a tea solution. On-site wood-aging factory shown below....




Click here to for a detailed tutorial on how to age wood, and here for a quick overview of how I aged the ceiling planks shown below in my 'wood-aging factory'. The floor planks got the same treatment.

We had the electrician who did the initial rough-in work come back and install all the lighting and electrical fixtures. We're both over the moon about the rustic chandelier with its mason jar-like globes.

I wish we had gone with recessed lighting, since I think the track lights stand out like a sore thumb on our nice ceiling. I'm thinking they will need to come down at some point so I can spray paint them a rust color so that they aren't so obtrusive.




According to the description for the flush-mount ceiling light shown below, it's supposed to 'bring a feel of a maritime port' to any room. However, I think it works just fine in a rustic bathroom in a mountain cabin very far from the ocean.

Ugh, those galvanized metal panels in the shower! There was certainly a lot of harsh language flying around when my husband was wrestling with them during the installation. Still need to add stained wood trim pieces. Love the pebble shower floor.

By the way, the official name of the toilet is 'Stately Memoirs' (according to the packaging). Who thinks up these names??









Finally being able to turn on the kitchen tap and have CLEAN water come out was a huge milestone.




A few days before I took the photo above, we discovered that some chipmunks and their field mice friends decided to crawl into the outflow pipe for our water tank. They crawled all the way through the pipe and fell into the tank, where, unfortunately for them and for us, they drowned, making a terrible, smelly mess (think several months of decomposition).

My husband had to crawl down into the tank and clean out all that disgusting water one bucket at a time. You can see him down there in the photo below, sitting in the filthy, pestilential water. And see that rope attached to the bucket? That allowed me to pull up each bucket and dump the contents (complete with little, bloated corpses) in an area far from the water tank. It was awful, awful, awful.

It took lots of Clorox and several hours of flushing water through the system to get to the clear, clean water shown above.




To speed things up, we decided to wait to install the deck shown in the rendering below until after we pass our final inspection. Click here for more on the deck.







I'm going to end with some photos of the gorgeous surrounding country (and my dog), since I don't have any pretty photos of the finished cabin...yet.